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What are your reasons that you must have a Mac?

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galaksy

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 19, 2014
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I heard that if you want to get into video or music editing Mac is better than Windows. Is that still true?

I ask because I am not sure whether to buy a Mac or Windows laptop or desktop, because all the computers at home are fairly weak and I need to buy a new one, and I feel like I have to use only Mac or Windows because external hard drives have to be formatted to be used with either Mac or Windows. So if I buy a 4TB external hard drive to store family videos, it can only be played on a Mac or Windows but not both.
 
It's not a matter of "must have". With very few exceptions, any computer will do the job for most people. Buy whatever you prefer. What others prefer has no bearing on what works best for you. Most drive formats can be used by either OS, either natively or with additional software.
 
galaksy said:
I heard that if you want to get into video or music editing Mac is better than Windows. Is that still true?

I ask because I am not sure whether to buy a Mac or Windows laptop or desktop, because all the computers at home are fairly weak and I need to buy a new one, and I feel like I have to use only Mac or Windows because external hard drives have to be formatted to be used with either Mac or Windows. So if I buy a 4TB external hard drive to store family videos, it can only be played on a Mac or Windows but not both.
Click to expand...

Well that's absolutely BS. Any external drive, when formatted to FAT32, can work on either Mac or Windows. However, if you format as NTFS, you can write to it only in Windows, but can read from it in Mac or Windows. And if you format as Mac OS Extended (Journaled), you can write to it only from Mac, but can read from it in Mac or Windows.

So yes, you still can play videos from it regardless of formatting or OS.
 
yjchua95 said:
However, if you format as NTFS, you can write to it only in Windows, but can read from it in Mac or Windows. And if you format as Mac OS Extended (Journaled), you can write to it only from Mac, but can read from it in Mac or Windows.
Click to expand...
As stated before, with additional software, there are no such limitations. OS X can read and write to NTFS drives and Windows can read and write to HFS+ drives.
 
GGJstudios said:
It's not a matter of "must have". With very few exceptions, any computer will do the job for most people. Buy whatever you prefer. What others prefer has no bearing on what works best for you. Most drive formats can be used by either OS, either natively or with additional software.
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly! :)
 
galaksy said:
I heard that if you want to get into video or music editing Mac is better than Windows. Is that still true?

I ask because I am not sure whether to buy a Mac or Windows laptop or desktop, because all the computers at home are fairly weak and I need to buy a new one, and I feel like I have to use only Mac or Windows because external hard drives have to be formatted to be used with either Mac or Windows. So if I buy a 4TB external hard drive to store family videos, it can only be played on a Mac or Windows but not both.
Click to expand...

You can have cross-compatibility if you format your external unit in ExFAT. Sometimes it's a tricky process, since OSX (or Windows) doesn't recognize the drive if the cluster size is different than 4KB (if I'm not wrong with the size). After a few tries, You should get it to work. You can also share your storage through the network or buy external drives with network support. Macs connect easily to Windows (SMB) shared folders and are also capable of sharing files as if they were windows machines.
 
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GGJstudios said:
As stated before, with additional software, there are no such limitations. OS X can read and write to NTFS drives and Windows can read and write to HFS+ drives.
Click to expand...

Really? I always had some trouble with free NTFS drivers for OSX. Never really tested commercial options. I also tested a good commercial app capable of mounting HFS+ drives on Windows, but don't remember its name now. Anyway, never found a free decent utility for both filesystems. ExFAT is my solution, although you have to play a little with cluster sizes until the solution actually work.

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galaksy said:
Are there any disadvantages to using FAT32
Click to expand...

In FAT32, files can't be bigger than 4GB.
 
brdeveloper said:
Really? I always had some trouble with free NTFS drivers for OSX. Never really tested commercial options. I also tested a good commercial app capable of mounting HFS+ drives on Windows, but don't remember its name now. Anyway, never found a free decent utility for both filesystems. ExFAT is my solution, although you have to play a little with cluster sizes until the solution actually work.
Click to expand...

Format A Hard Drive Using Disk Utility (which is in your /Applications/Utilities folder)
​
Choose the appropriate format:
​
HFS+ (Hierarchical File System, a.k.a. Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Don't use case-sensitive) NTFS (Windows NT File System)
  • Read/Write NTFS from native Windows.
  • Read only NTFS from native Mac OS X [*]To Read/Write/Format NTFS from Mac OS X, here are some alternatives:
    • For Mac OS X 10.4 or later (32 or 64-bit), install Paragon (approx $20) (Best Choice for Lion and later)
    • For 32-bit Mac OS X, install NTFS-3G for Mac OS X (free) (does not work in 64-bit mode)
    • For 64-bit Snow Leopard, read this: MacFUSE for 64-bit Snow Leopard
    • Some have reported problems using Tuxera (approx $36).
    • Native NTFS support can be enabled in Snow Leopard and Lion, but is not advisable, due to instability.
  • AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support NTFS
  • Maximum file size: 16 TB
  • Maximum volume size: 256TB
  • You can use this format if you routinely share a drive with multiple Windows systems.
exFAT (FAT64)
  • Supported in Mac OS X only in 10.6.5 or later.
  • Not all Windows versions support exFAT. See disadvantages.
  • exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table)
  • AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support exFAT
  • Maximum file size: 16 EiB
  • Maximum volume size: 64 ZiB
  • You can use this format if it is supported by all computers with which you intend to share the drive. See "disadvantages" for details.
FAT32 (File Allocation Table)
  • Read/Write FAT32 from both native Windows and native Mac OS X. [*]Maximum file size: 4GB.
  • Maximum volume size: 2TB
  • You can use this format if you share the drive between Mac OS X and Windows computers and have no files larger than 4GB.
 
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My reasons? I'm a student, so I need a reliable laptop that won't crash on me. As a kid I always had a knack for making Windows machines crash and finding Trojans. When I needed a laptop for college, my choices were Vista (yes, it was pre-Win 7) or OS X. My best friend majored in art, so she got a Mac and convinced me to get one too.
 
I don't have to have a Mac.

I find it's better for media stuff and programming, but for work it's not as good.

For work I use a lot of Windows only applications and some websites (especially banking) require Internet Explorer.

It depends on your needs.

Anyways all my work laptops are ThinkPads and they are very reliable. My current main work machine is computer I bought in colleague about five years ago and works like new. I've only done a few upgrades like doubling the RAM to 8GB and installing an SSD. My newest computer is my ThinkPad X1 Carbon; super light, very fast, great battery life, and it looks great too.
 
galaksy said:
I heard that if you want to get into video or music editing Mac is better than Windows. Is that still true?
Click to expand...

It is most certainly not true. In fact, if editing media is the only thing you intend to do, then I recommend agains a Mac. Windows media editing applications are often more stable and perform better, the UI is basically the same so it does not matter anyway, and besides, you can often save money on the laptop.

My reason to have a Mac is that its the best hardware/software platform for things I do, which is education/scientific research/statistical modelling/software development. I have to deal with dozens of heterogeneous projects at the same time and lookup chaotically organised data, having OS X with its superb convenience shortcuts and organisation capabilities saves me an incredible amount of time compared to Windows. Retina display means less eye fatigue when working with tons of text (which is basically all I do). And the super-light laptop with extremely fast CPU and long battery life means that I can work easier on the go.
 
They are both 'just tools' but I enjoy using OSX..

galaksy said:
.. I ask because I am not sure whether to buy a Mac or Windows laptop or desktop, because all the computers at home are fairly weak and I need to buy a new one..
Click to expand...

Well, I 'had to buy one' because I liked it more as a functioning machine.. BUT, I still use IBM/PCs as well in my world.. and after I have used a Windows machine for a few hours/days, I remember WHY I like using MAC/OSX more.. a lot more.. ;)
 
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Personally my view of Windows was tainted by what they did for me between about 95 and 2000, spent half my life with the side off, downloading 3rd party drivers and removing spyware.
2 Imacs, a Powemac, a Mac pro and several Macbook pro's later i'm glad I took the plunge back in 2000.
You are to a degree paying for a brand but within that brand comes some brutal strict quality control and despite a few complaints a very stable and reliable product that will be like that trusty favourite hoody that always does the job.
Sure a Moped will get you to work and back every day but a BMW will be so much more pleasurable and after £30k miles the moped will be going to scrapyard while you can get half your money back on the BMW.
Buy a Macbook pro and look after it then sell in 2 years and you will get half your money back, try that with a knackered Windows machine and you'll be lucky to get 10-20%.
I mean you are asking on an Apple forum which to choose so there is likely to only be one answer but I do believe in this case you get what you pay for.

I did buy a cheap Windows machine and use for 3 months earlier this year as a stopgap and it has come a long way since the older versions but there was still issues where things just didnt work as they should and just a slight feeling that it wasnt quite finished, not to mention that god awful block desktop thing. The trackpad was terrible also, the Macbooks trackpad has to be used to be believed
Overall I believe the OSX experience is better than that of Windows which for me along with the investment issue is the defining factor.
 
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GGJstudios said:
It's not a matter of "must have". With very few exceptions, any computer will do the job for most people. Buy whatever you prefer. What others prefer has no bearing on what works best for you. Most drive formats can be used by either OS, either natively or with additional software.
Click to expand...

Precisely!

I'll be the first to admit it's my long history of successful, enjoyable experiences with Macs that factors heavily into my choices.
 
I prefer OSX over any operating system, windows in particular only gives me headaches. And of course the fact that Apple is in control of the entire computer just makes the user experience much better.

I personally cannot use a computer without Disk Util and Automator anymore. And of course there is no Final Cut Pro on Windows, which is my video editor of choice.
 
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Wow, such a long thread and yet nobody mentioned that FAT32 is non-transactional filesystem which means that if you suddenly unplug HDD or you're suddenly cut off electricity, the filesystem could get corrupted and you might lose your project files.

I wouldn't recommend FAT32 to anybody nowadays. It's thing of the past.

Get yourself drivers for HFS+ for Windows (which are free and easy to install) and you're ready to go.
 
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So, as someone about to buy a rMBP, it sounds like HFS+, and MacDrive is the way to go.

Is the Mac default file system HFS+ ?
 
All i needed was run time and i couldn't find a decent Windows Laptop without many Issues.

Windows 8, ugggh.

Try to find a windows laptop with enough juice to last 9-12h.

Try to find a windows LAPtop that has no fans on the bottom of the case.



And now after i bought it i don't see myself going back to windows.

Build Quality, Screen, Keyboard, Trackpad are just so much better than on any Windows Notebook i have ever seen/used.
 
I was always a windows guy per se but this time around I was settled on going with a Mac laptop. I didnt care for windows 8 even though I know they brought back some of the things that people missed with 8.1. Still - just tired of windows and its associated issues. Macs are NOT perfect either but IMO they have less to "deal with" than any windows system.

The overall quality just seems nicer on the Macs too. You can get a solid windows based laptop but you have to spend nearly as much as you would a Mac so at that point the choice became much easier for me.

We also have iPads in the house so file sharing/updating/syncing is super easy now. That makes a difference too :)
 
Some of my reasons in no particular order:
- Only UNIX with any major third party software support for the desktop
- I like the consistent manner in which the UI has been put together
- I like the stability
- I like how they use open standards where I need them
- I like the development tools offered as standard
- I like a lot of third party software that's out there
- I like the design of the hardware
- I like how Apple from time to time goes and pushes the envelope in things like displays, functionality and stability

I originally came from a Windows background and at this point I simply couldn't go back. If Apple went and completely ruined OSX in future releases I'd probably completely switch over to Linux (which I'm running in one sort or form on my cellphone, tablet and NAS box).
 
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SarcasticJoe said:
I originally came from a Windows background and at this point I simply couldn't go back. If Apple went and completely ruined OSX in future releases I'd probably completely switch over to Linux (which I'm running in one sort or form on my cellphone, tablet and NAS box).
Click to expand...

True dat. I use both for coding but when Im using Windows I always miss the feel of the Mac and the way everything works :)
 
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